Li Mao lived in Xuejiazhuang for half a month, the weather gradually cooled down, and after eating a bowl of newly harvested sorghum rice, Xue Rong had no reason to stay at home, everything was settled properly, and the luggage was packed early, so he had no choice but to say goodbye to his relatives and set off for work.

The old lady left Yun Niang and sent Wei to Caozhou with Xue Rong, accompanied by Li Mao and Qin Niang, as well as the house slave Lao Gu, the little girl Qingmo, Wei's two serving mother-in-law Zhan Po and Yang Po, two personal service maids and the third sister and ugly child, Xue Fang hired ten strong men locally, picked up luggage and served as a guard for the eldest brother, and before leaving, he gave Li Mao a horizontal knife as a self-defense.

On a gloomy autumn morning, Xue Rong said goodbye to his mother Li, brother Xue Fang, concubine Yunniang and others, and left his hometown of Xuejiazhuang in Baoding County to go to Caozhou to take office.

Xue Rong rode a horse, Webster rode a donkey, and the rest of the people were on foot. There is a thousand miles of road from Baoding to Chengwu County in Caozhou, and there are nearly two hundred miles of mountain roads in the middle. Li Mao is from a hard background, and he doesn't feel anything when he walks, but he has to watch out for bandits and robbers from time to time, which is exhausting. The ten strong men hired by Xue Fang are not only burdens but also bodyguards, and each of them does not carry heavy things, so as to maintain their physical strength and deal with contingencies at any time.

Lao Gu and Qingmo often follow Xue Rong out, and some trivial chores can also be handled. It's just one point, Lao Gu is old and cunning, and he is courteous in front of Xue Rongwei, and when he turns around, he makes the traitor lazy, and he doesn't do much work but talks a lot. Qingmo is still a child after all, and his role is very limited. Because he couldn't arrange the living and eating of the head of the house, he was reprimanded a lot, and he wore a bitter gourd face all day long. Li Mao couldn't bear it, and often helped him secretly, but he didn't want to help, so he took the drudgery of waiting for the group to eat and live on himself.

This kind of thing is the most thankless, and Qin Niang persuaded him to stop taking care of things, so as not to be resented. Li Mao smiled bitterly: "Lao Gu is old and cunning, and Qingmo is too young. One of them is expensive and the other is delicate, when they go out, they treat each other a little, why bother to divide it so clearly. As soon as she said this, her arm was secretly twisted by Qin Niang, and the little woman raised her eyebrows, snorted and sneered: "It's good that you don't have to say anything, you just wait to eat and suffer." ”

Qin Niang's words were soon verified, taking care of so many people's daily life and diet, how complicated things are, Li Mao had never done this before, and it was inevitable that there would be some mistakes for a while, Xue Rong didn't squeak about it, even if he was out of the big basket, he could laugh at it. Wei Shi can't do it, she is an impatient person, born in a big family, she has been used to calling slaves since she was a child, how can she be wronged? If you are not satisfied, you will make a lot of noise.

Xue Rong said a few words to her, she quarreled with Xue Rong, Zhan Po and Yang Po persuaded her to say a few words, she scolded her two nurses for a dog blood spray, as for the third sister and the ugly child, it was simply her punching bag, the third sister was older, and she knew how to hide by looking at her eyes. The ugly child is a childish mess, and often hits her with the tip of the gun unpleasantly, so that the eye circles are always red, and the tears seem to never be wiped away.

Chou'er has been friendly with Qinniang since she was a child, and often comes to Qinniang to cry when she is wronged, and every time she cries in the dark, Li Mao can't bear it when she sees it. In public and private, Li Mao is determined to endure this drudgery, he is a person who refuses to admit defeat, because it is not his style to pick a son and not do it because he has been wronged.

Li Mao's persistence slowly paid off, and Mrs. Zhan and Po Yang had a better and better impression of this diligent, non-shelf-bearing, and humiliating monk, and they helped Li Mao say good things in front of Wei in private. The third sister is known as a housekeeper, but she is not allowed to use her identity, and in order to avoid scolding her, she often points to Li Mao's housekeeping skills. Li Mao is not stupid, and he is diligent and studious, with so many people on the side, coupled with Webster's fiery temper and constant vigilance, Li Mao grew up rapidly under pressure.

Taking care of more than a dozen people sitting, standing, walking, eating, drinking, and sleeping, it seems like a trivial thing but it is not easy to do it well, and the steward not only needs to have a sense of the overall situation, but also needs to have a keen insight into the subtleties, and also needs to be thoughtful and detailed, and is good at mediating interpersonal relationships, which is extremely capable of refining people's abilities.

Li Mao's efforts began to be recognized by all parties, and Wei, who liked to pick thorns the most, slowly accepted him, and finally one day Weishi said to Xue Rong in private: "Maohua is a good person, I think you want to envelop him more, and he will be your right-hand man in the future." ”

Xue Rong was secretly happy in his heart, but his face was still lukewarm, he twisted his beard, twisted his brows, and pretended to think for a moment, before asking, "Is such a person available?" I think he often does things upside down, like an octopus. Webster pouted and said, "It was before, didn't you see that he is much more sleek and sophisticated now?" I think he is a malleable talent, and you will not be wrong if you believe in my vision. Xue Rong looked impatient and said, "Let's take a look again." ”

Wei has been strong since he was a child, fighting with his brothers and sisters at home, and marrying into the Xue family is also fighting inside and out. Xue Rong is square and hard, Wei can't compete with him, he is soft on the surface, but he is not convinced in his bones, the person she strongly recommends cannot be recognized by her husband, so she is holding her breath in her heart, in order to prove that her judgment is correct, Wei Shi began to help Li Mao openly and secretly, and I can't wait to tell Li Mao about Xue Rong's past and present life, so that he can prescribe the right medicine and win Xue Rong's recognition as soon as possible.

These words were first relayed to Qin Niang through the third sister, and then Qin Niang said them to Li Mao, but later felt that it was too troublesome, so she simply called Qin Niang to order in person.

Qin Niang had the intention of following Webster, how could she miss this opportunity? The little woman was a clever person, and she had her own means to coax Webster's heart to change. Not long after leaving the middle road of the river, Qin Niang became a big celebrity around Wei.

Qin Niang is soft on the outside and rigid on the inside, treats people kindly, is sleek and sophisticated, she not only makes herself favored in front of Wei, but also does not incur the jealousy of Zhan Po, Yang Po and the third sister, and gets along well. As for the ugly child, she wished that such a good sister would speak for her in front of the head of the house, and there was no jealousy, and it was too late to be happy.

Gradually accustomed to long-distance travel of Wei's like an early spring tree, yesterday was still withered branches, a night of spring breeze blowing suddenly new shoots and green blooming, suddenly become vivid, she is a beautiful woman, but in Xuejiazhuang closed for too long and withered, now she ushered in a new life, Zhou body up and down full of vitality, from the inside to the outside of the attractive charm.

The change in his wife soon attracted Xue Rong's attention, the fatigue of the journey and the confusion about the future often made him feel depressed, Yun Niang was not around, and he often felt lonely after a long night. In the face of Merriam-Webster's gentle offensive, he was in his prime and could not resist. With the nourishment of love, Wei's became more and more tender, and Xue Rong was completely immersed in the gentle township, temporarily forgetting the fatigue of the journey.

After walking through a section of the most difficult mountain road, there is a big river in front of you - the Yellow River, the water of the Yellow River is as turbid as Li Mao imagined, but the water potential is much larger, the river surface is wide, the turbidity waves are empty, the white sails on the river surface are dotted, and the boats are like shuttles.

From here, the boat can go east for three days to Huazhou, and go ashore to the south to cross Puzhou is the boundary of Caozhou. Traveling by boat was obviously much easier than walking, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The group settled in a small town called Mo Kedu, Li Mao rushed to the ferry to hire a boat, and Xue Rong and his wife stayed at the inn.

Mo Kedu is a military town sent by the Heyang Jiedu Embassy, with 300 town soldiers stationed to guard the crossing of the Yellow River to suppress and control it. The town envoy is at the same level as the county order where he is located, and he is not subordinate to each other, in addition to guarding against thieves, he also has the responsibility of inspecting taxes.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the military expenses of each feudal town were raised by the local government, and the commanders of each feudal clan were in charge of finances, whether they were the envoys of the festival, the observers, or the envoys of the defense department and the provincial branches. Because of the war, a large number of peasant households fled from all over the country, and a large number of land were annexed into the hands of the powerful and powerful, and the powerful had their own support, and the acres of land were hidden and not paid according to the regulations, and the local government attached great importance to commercial taxes in order to raise military expenses.

Mokedu town is an important ferry port leading to Luoyang in the river, business travel is frequent, the tax is very considerable, Heyang Jiedu makes it fearful of smuggling and tax evasion and sets up a military town garrison.

The ferry port is built on an isolated island in the south of the town, there is a wooden bridge connected to the river bank, the tax collector sets up a tax card at the bridgehead, checks and collects taxes on the passing traveling merchants, and the traveling travelers pay the "bridge tax" according to the capitation, and the traders pay taxes according to the value of the goods they carry, and the military town sends troops to be on duty at the bridgehead, which not only deters the business travelers from making trouble, but also has the power to supervise the tax collectors and prevent them from committing fraud for personal gain.